Used to be the Trying Woodsman... as derived from the Flying Dutchman...
In this blog I'll post my outdooradventures and other things related to this topic...but I decided to expand my blogposts and topics to include homesteading, self reliance and all things related. Global and social developments on enviromental issues and associated economic or political issues... They'll all find a place too, somehow.

Sunday, June 26, 2016

The year of the bee.

...or the year the bees came to us.
First there was the discovery of the bees in our garden. After I discovered the first one in the beginning of may we kept seeing them in greater numbers in the warm days after that.
Due to non matching agendas and the very fine weather early may the building of the topbar hives stalled a little, but on the 10th of may I got mail from Johan, saying he was preparing to split of bees in the beginning of june, but he needed boxes to put them into, so we could transport them here later. And I must admit that I panicked a little..... I had nothing to accommodate or transport the bees in or with! And how was I going to transfer the bees from a box with frames into a topbar hive? No idea!
That same day I got another email, saying a package had arrived at the local pickup point; a package containing 2 beekeepersuits, 2 pairs of gloves and some handtools. Yes, my wife is also getting her equipment, so she can join me. I will need her help when we transfer the bees from box with frames to topbar hive with bare topbars.
Things started to get real!!! And here's where my job came in handy once more; I opted for the easy solution and ordered boxes. They cost a little, but these might prove useful later too, if I'd need to buy more bees. Or maybe even to put a swarm in or something. Early in june we paid Johan a visit, as I documented in the blog earlier and we left the boxes with them. I am very eager to see how things have evolved from there!

And now our topbar hives are done as well. The procedure is fairly straight forward, really. We followed Chandler's directions, adapted a little here and there, mainly in measurements and availability of wood, and improvised where we saw fit. For instance we did not paint the roof, but used an old groundsheet of a caravan (trailer) tent. Now the roof is waterproof, in a light color, which should keep temperatures underneath down and there was no need to buy paint either. The roof is not completely encapsulated, just covered, so enough room for ventilation as well.
I'll try to paint them before they are going to get used. All we need to do now, is wait for the call and go and get the ladies... I am getting quite excited, I can tell you that!

The one at our place...

and the one at my parents in law's place....

Here's a video Johan, our beedealer, made about such a transfer. It'll come in very handy!transfer from frame to topbar. Text is in Swedish, but the images speak for themselves.

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